Ever Tried This?

I discovered a “new to me” DIY.

We’ve been planning my daughter’s baby shower. We decided on a floral theme since her nursery decor is not theme centered, but color/texture centered. So, we used her color scheme and translated it into florals.

My precious, always thinking of others, daughter asked us shower hostesses to please not use live florals. Even though we all love them, she did not want us to splurge. February does not have any blooming plants where we live, and live florals are at a premium price, especially Valentine’s week.

Helping with decor, I set out searching for an alternative.

Not a huge fan of silks, my first thought was paper flowers. I couldn’t envision them making a centerpiece arrangement without thinking of the ‘60s & ’70s when I first made them. They were all the rage then.

Then I stumbled on….

Wood Flowers, Sola Flowers!

I don’t recall seeing them in arrangements before, but I have seen them in pot-pourri. Since I now recognize them, I’ve noticed them in a few other places too. You can put essential oils on them for fragrance, if you choose.

The price point was reasonable, so I did some research. All reviews loved them! Of course, paper is made from wood, so how different will them be? How sturdy? And will they resemble artificial/silk flowers or be a little more real looking?

We decided we should take the plunge, order a pack and if we didn’t like them, we would choose something else.

This was the final shove into purchasing…

You can DYE them!!!

I watched a few YouTube videos and decided it seemed very doable. If a YouTube FAIL occurred, we didn’t invest too much.

When they arrived in the mail, the box was crushed on one end. I thought the experiment might be over. To my surprise, when I opened the box, all the flowers had survived the assault. I was shocked.

They immediately impressed me with their shape, feel, and stamina. Much, much stronger than paper flowers. The different shapes and sizes were also a win.

Since my daughter was an Art Major, her color radar is much stronger and sharper-tuned than mine. She sees hues and tones that escape me. I always take her word for it!! So, I asked her if she wanted to be part of the dyeing process. Loving to experiment with art, she jumped on board. I left the color decisions to her keen artist abilities.

We made a plan. One morning while I was visiting her, we had a flower dyeing session.

They come white like this …

These were our dying colors based on her nursery choices…

This is what they looked like after dying and before completely drying …

After 24 hrs drying, we hot glued them with floral wire to make a stem …

Baby’s breath was the staple of my daughter’s wedding florals. We figured if we added live Baby’s breath and maybe a bit of live greenery, we could achieve a more realistic look.

Here were the results …

We were so so pleased with the results!!!

They looked quite realistic. So many people complimented them at the shower! They look better in person: pictures do not do them justice.

The best part was… they will last till we are tired of them and… they travel well! I thought I might have to replace a few transferring them to the shower, but, NOPE! They arrived at our location exactly as I put them in the car!!

I highly recommend them, if they suit your needs. Being able to make them fit any color scheme is a big bonus!! They do sell colored ones, but having never purchased them before, we were concerned the colors might be different than the chosen theme.

I call this a DIY WIN!

From experience, not all DIY’s are “wins”!

You can purchase the flowers on Amazon and other websites as well!

Have you used Sola flowers?

If so, how?

Have you had a recent DIY “win”? Tell us!

DIY High Five,